Meyersdale braces for PSERS short fall

Meyersdale Area School District’s administration is bracing for the impact of the Public School Employees’ Retirement System short fall.

“No one knows how the pension system is going to be resolved,” Superintendent Tracey Karlie said. “It is going to be a tremendous impact if nothing is done on the state level. How large a hit is unknown.”

The PSERS agency said it needs billions of dollars in additional investment from taxpayers in the state for the next 20-plus years to regain its financial footing.

Business Manager Laura Schardt said that last year the district transferred $130,000 to a designated account for the PSERS system. The board hasn’t made a decision on how much to set aside this year.

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The district has been told unofficially that health insurance costs will increase 19.75 percent next year. It is part of a health insurance consortium.

The administration is meeting with several consortiums to discuss possible group purchases of electricity to offset price hikes as the electric rate cap expires.

Meyersdale received $283,869 in special education funds; $737,893 in Title I funds and an additional $60,000 in Title IID funds. Title I guidelines state that schools with large concentrations of low-income students will receive supplemental funds. Title IID funds are grants to improve student achievement through technology.

The district was helped last year by having a fund balance that carried it over to September when the state budget was delayed, Schardt said. Meyersdale didn’t need a bank loan to carry it through until the state money arrived.

“We have yet to hold budget meetings with the board, but we’re trying to minimize costs so not to add a burden on the taxpayers,” Karlie said. “Some grants are competitive and we won’t know until next year if we will receive them.”

Meyersdale applied for federal Race to the Top funds, but Pennsylvania did not receive any money. Only Delaware and Tennessee received money from the $4.35 billion education stimulus plan in round one of funding.

The administration is not considering consolidating with another district at this time, Karlie said. The school shares some resources, such as athletic programs, with Salisbury-Elk Lick School District.

“One problem with consolidating schools in rural areas is transportation,” he said. “We try to limit students’ time on the bus to one hour. We also have to factor in weather.”

Transportation costs came down because the district was able to reroute one bus.

“Transportation is a major expense, but salaries and benefits are the biggest expense,” Schardt said.

None of the district’s contracts expire this year.

While “pay for play” is not being considered for all students, it has been looked at for districts that Meyersdale has cooperative agreements with because the Meyersdale district is paying for coaches, officials and transportation.

The administration is investigating sharing special services, such as counseling, but hasn’t reached a decision.

Meyersdale’s class sizes have gone down over the past 20 years, but there is an occasional spike. This year the district will graduate 70 students. There are about 72 or 74 in kindergarten this year. At enrollment’s highest point the school graduated 130. In the past eight years, some teachers’ jobs have been consolidated as they retire.

“We want to be more efficient,” Karlie said. “The goal is to be able to provide quality education and to be fiscally responsible.”

He said it was very hard for him to pick the district’s strongest point.

“I do think that one of our strong points is that the school board, administration and teachers work together to provide our students a quality education,” Karlie said. “I wouldn’t identify a weakest point. There are always areas that we are striving to improve upon. Knowing that student accountability is of high interest of the government and we need to make Adequate Yearly Progress. We are continually striving to improve and we are improving.”